2 Powerful Ways Business Intelligence Turns IT Frowns Upside Down

What do you think comes to mind when employees think about their company's IT Department? If they're anything like the rest of the corporate world, you might hear things like, “I can't do my job because our IT Department is too slow,” or “I can't get you that report because the IT Department hasn't had a chance to fix my computer.” Now, try to imagine what your IT Department may be saying in response to your company employee’s complaints. Perhaps it goes something like this: “Our to-do list is as long as The Great Wall of China,” or “Why on Earth can’t some of these minor things be handled by the employees themselves.” In all honestly, both sides have valid points. Let's take a closer look at how business intelligence, or BI, can turn your IT departments frowns to smiles. 

Creating Reports

One of the tasks your IT Department is most often asked to complete is the creation of reports. Employees need them to create slideshows, and executives need them to understand where the business stands so they can make educated decisions for the company. BI can make reports easy to generate in many different formats and simple to distribute in a variety of ways, so everyone can be satisfied. When you use business intelligence to create reports, you give the end user (employees and executives) control and immediacy. You only need a web browser to obtain up-to-the-minute reports in seconds. Your IT Department will no longer have a long list of to-dos that feature creating a report as the main topic. Your IT Department will no longer be pressured into dropping what they are doing in order to create a last minute report that is “extremely necessary.” If someone needs a report, business intelligence can help him or her access it easily, whenever it's needed. If this makes you nervous, don't be. Business intelligence reporting can also offer finely-tuned security. Only those persons that have the authority to access a file are able to do so. This security meets all modern IT standards and is fully compliant with HIPAA and SOX requirements. Let BI take some of the workload off of your IT Department. 

Report Distribution

Another great task that business intelligence can take on is report distribution. Most IT executives feel the challenges of managing report distribution in a resource-constrained environment. They constantly hear from frustrated end-users that complain that they didn't get the report they needed on time, or that they contain errors and are out-of-date. BI allows you to set up the flexibility to define fixed, data- or event-driven schedules for reports creation and distribution. For example, if the CFO wants a report at the end of every month, you can set up the specific report to be automatically created and distributed efficiently and securely at the end of every month. You can even customize how the report is distributed: fax, email, print, DropBox, SMS, etc. You can set up hundreds of reports to be automatically created and distributed, and customize each one to the needs of the end-user. This frees up so much time for your IT Department and allows them to focus on tasks that require their expert attention.

The two most complained about problems in your IT Department can be made simple and specific. Not only will BI allow for more customization and control for your end-users (employees and executives), it gives your IT Department more freedom to work on network problems and other issues that require their skill set and training. Your employees, executives, and IT Department will all be celebrating with the addition of business intelligence software. Don't wait. Get started today!